


But rash decisions won’t help for long

by BlackPrism



Series: Arms full of consequences [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horrortale, Angst, HorrorTale Sans, Horrortale Papyrus, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda, So yea, kinda angst, mostly just poor starving skeletons feeling bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-08 04:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13450980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackPrism/pseuds/BlackPrism
Summary: Continuation to "On the other hand it's better than starving"Everybody deals with the consequences of your actions.





	But rash decisions won’t help for long

**Author's Note:**

> For Matronofthevoid on Tumblr.  
> I was so excited to make a continuation of this ahh!!!
> 
> \--
> 
> I write things on Tumblr, i can write something for you too, check out my blog if you want to https://bonelynomore.tumblr.com/

Papyrus was up and shaking you, the moment you hit the ground, trying to wake you, trying to get you to make at least a sound, checking you frantically. He gasped at your low HP. Low, but still there, still there and only dropping slowly. You could still be saved, you were not gone yet. 

But Sans eye lights were glued to the bloody rag on the floor, his nowadays slow mind putting together what happened, what he was seeing, what it meant, processing everything, he himself frozen in place.

What did you do? What in the hell did you do!? He couldn’t..he didn’t….why? He knew what you did, he knew you didn’t just magically found a piece of meat, he was too hungry to ask, to think about it before, he still was starving.  
But his thoughts had cleared enough to..think.

It was you. He ate you. He ate your arm. 

He hasn’t felt sick like that in months, but he knew would probably throw up if he kept thinking about it longer.

Papyrus was still shaking you gently.

“SANS! SANS THEY ARE NOT WAKING UP! WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING! WE NEED TO HELP THEM! WE NEED….WE NEED...SANS PLEASE HELP ME!”

Papyrus voice was unsteady, scared, terrified. He really took a shine to you, Sans knew that. You were his first friend after….Undyne.  
Sans shook his head, looking away from the rag with some difficulty. 

“we..we gotta..can you still heal?”

They both knew he couldn’t. Nobody could anymore. Healing magic disappeared, as did love and kindness. You couldn’t heal if you were too desperate and scared after all. You couldn’t heal after you killed and killed and killed. But maybe...

Papyrus placed his hands on you, trying to wring just some of that magic out of himself, to get his hands to glow green. He had always been so good at that….but now…

Papyrus sighed and lowered his hand, Sans finally getting his body to move again, kneeling next to his brother and placing an arm around him.

“it’s ok bro, we figure something out.”

“I..I miss it somehow..”

They both didn’t say a thing. It wasn’t just about healing magic, it was..everything. Only barely a year ago they could have run to the Innkeeper, or the Shop Keeper for medicine asked everybody in Snowdin for help and received it without a moment of hesitation.

But now...if they went outside they would have to fight off starving monsters who would even eat another's dust.

Papyrus was the first to jump back into action, he was always the one to stay optimistic, to shake off the gloom and keep going. Even now.

“SANS, WE NEED TO GO TO THE DUMP, WE NEED TO FIND SOMETHING TO EAT. THERE STILL HAS TO BE SOME FOOD LEFT SOMEWHERE!”

Magical food has been rare back when they first started eating humans, but now it was completely gone. There just wasn’t enough magic left to create food, and even back then it has been always small, tasteless portions, the cook's doubts and fears seeping into the food and making it almost useless. 

But Sans couldn’t let his brother’s hopes down, he was right. They had to try something. But what. 

“bro..i don’t think there will be anything at the dump.”

Sans knew that Papyrus wasn’t a babybones, he could handle the truth. But it still hurt to see Papyrus face fall. As always it was only for a short time. Papyrus couldn’t give up on you, you were his best friend, he couldn’t lose you.  
He send an apology to Undyne in his thoughts, but after he had been beaten to a pile of broken bones by her again and again and again until his teeth grew jagged and his bones were covered in cracks...he couldn’t see her as his once best friend anymore.

“YES..BUT...THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING, SOMEWHERE...SOMEWHERE NOBODY ELSE EVER WENT TO…”

A cave that no monster had access to, a cave that had some food left in it...Sans knew about the Glamburger at the core, in a trash can only accessible sometimes when the rooms of the core were in the right alignment. He saw it himself once, had a good laugh, heard from Alphys that Mettaton had given away free Glamburgers as a kind of...promotional thing. Not a lot of people appreciate it and most landed at the dump and in various trash cans.  
Not everybody would eat a burger covered in glitter and sequins.

At least back then.

Sans knew that it had probably already been eaten. A lot of monsters had worked at the core, still did if they were alive, and every food was good food when you were starving.

But there had to be some food somewhere, just somewhere….some secluded area nobody had scavenged yet.

Sans eye sockets widened. 

“be right back, stay with them.”

“BROTHER...WHAT..?”

But Sans had already teleported, leaving only empty air where he had stood.

\------

Sans reappeared at the entry to Waterfall, swaying on his feet and covering his nose. Wow, this place was really rotting away, no doubt about that.  
He walked over to his old sentry station, only a wooden counter and stool, rotting and broken, covered in the debris of the caved in roof. He hadn’t been here for some time, staying in Snowdin after they started eating the humans that fell down, instead of delivering them to Undyne.

He let himself fall heavily on the stool, glad that it held his weight. Sans needed a break, he had always been low on magic, but now, half-starved and with his eye and head destroyed, he couldn’t teleport too far without almost collapsing.  
He knew he had to hurry, but he would be of no use if he passed out cold.

Sans took a few deep breaths, keeping his eyes open for any passing monster. He knew the ones living closer to New Home had more food, more of what fell from the surface, not a lot of them have resorted to eating humans, not a lot of them have changed in the way the monsters in Snowdin did. But Waterfall was still rather far away, rather..dangerous. Not as bad as Snowdin, but you shouldn’t let your guard down here.

Sans got up. He wasn’t feeling his best, but good enough. He had no time to waste, and only Snowdin was the part he had to teleport through. Only Snowdin was full of monsters ready to eat anything and everything.

He walked through the slimy and rotting remains of what was once the calmest and most beautiful part of the Underground, a place everybody came to, to just admire the scenery, to feel the cool, clear water. Now it was just stinking, dying plants and slimy, dirty water. 

He walked, slipping and sliding on the wet and gunk covered stones, looking at the remains of echo flowers that let out nothing but garbled static. Nothing was left untouched by what was happening down here. 

He missed whispering puns or making fart noises into those plants.

But that had been another life.  
Finally, he reached the large cave with the bridge seeds, the seeds long rotten away. Hope blossomed in Sans soul, yes, maybe it was still there, maybe nobody got to it before the bridge seeds rotted.

He teleported to a small cave, only accessible through bridge seeds and hidden from view, the small jump draining him from almost all magic he had left. Phew, he would have to find another way to get back into Snowdin, but for now...

He once hid a quiche here. Just a joke, a joke only he knew about but one he found himself laughing about more often than he would admit. He had whispered something he couldn’t remember into the Echo Flower next to it, hidden it in his room and forgotten about it when he received the hole in his head. 

He didn’t know where he hid it though, and surveying the small room made his soul sink. It wasn’t there. It was gone. But how, how could somebody have gotten it, it was terrible, bad and didn’t even smell like food, so old and stale. But somebody somehow found it.

Sand sat down on the bench, the urgency in his step dying down. He...he had no idea what to do now. There was nothing left that could heal you. Human Flesh didn’t help, magical food was gone, healing magic was something nobody could use anymore.  
That was it. He gave up.

Sans slid down onto the floor of the cave, lying next to the bench on his back. A friend once told him about this family tradition, lying on the floor and feeling like garbage. And Sans didn’t know what else to do, unable to go back and watch you slowly bleed to death. Unable to face Papyrus and tell him there was nothing they could do.

So laying on the floor it was. It was the only thing he could do right now, and it didn’t require him to do anything, so it was the perfect solution for what to do next.

Sans turned his head and stretched his arms...just to freeze.

There it was.

Beneath the bench was a small, metal pie form, slightly rusted at the edges, the sludge from the ground staining it.

Sans scrambled towards it, slipping on the wet and slimy floor. He grabbed the pie form Papyrus had been searching for, for months before buying a new one. Looking inside he saw the old quiche he left here so long ago. It was still here, stale, disgusting and dry. But here and not rotten.

Magical food didn’t spoil, but with how everything magical started to rot and deteriorate down here, Sans just didn’t know if the quiche would still be good if he found it. But it was here and it was whole and edible.

Sans teleported back to the main cave, running for the first time in months or maybe years.

\------

Getting through Snodin was hard, but keeping himself from eating the quiche was harder. He hid it in his jacket, so close to himself he could actually smell it. Dry, and smelling burned. But food. So much food. A whole pie form full of it.  
His stomach grumbled with every thought that strayed towards the quiche in his jacket.

But he couldn’t eat it. He had long learned to ignore his hunger, long learned to give his food to Papyrus, to not eat it himself no matter what. And he wouldn’t eat this now either. He had to save you, he owed it to you. And, unlike his tab at Grillbys, he actually took this serious.

 

Snowdin was almost deserted, most hiding inside, worried to be ripped apart by those still strong enough to do so. Only the bear was still there, and the smiling devil, both talking about something, throwing glances behind them. Not even a normal conversation was possible any longer.

“Hey Sans!”, the bear shouted suddenly, they haven’t talked in weeks.

“hey there.”, Sans waved shortly, trying to wriggle the quiche deeper into his ribcage, to look like he wasn’t hiding anything.

“Haven’t seen you in a while, thought you might be...well, not here anymore. Have you been to Waterfall?”, the devil asked, looking in the direction Sans came from.

“yeah, thought i take a walk and stretch those tired bones”, Sans kept himself from scratching the back of his skull, forcing his body into his natural slouch. Why was it so hard to seem lazy and carefree on purpose, he stood like this every day usually, didn’t he?

The bear laughed.

“I wouldn’t set a paw into that place anymore. Gunk and slime everywhere, and I couldn’t get the stench out for weeks the last time I was there.”, the bear rubbed a paw over his tired face. Everybody has been looking tired and hungry for months now.

“welp, gotta go now. my bro heard about housewarming parties, and i gotta flip the house to keep it from burning”, Sans tried to cut the conversation short, hoping his lazy excuse wouldn’t seem worse than usual, his shoulders sagging when he received the usual laughs in return.

He walked past them towards his hous.

“Hey, wait a second”, the devil called, sniffing the air. No..he couldn’t...it was so stale and old, it couldn’t smell of anything anymore.  
Sans regret getting it. He should have let you die. Should have gotten some food for Papyrus and himself. Papyrus could have made spaghetti for the people of Snowdin again. Sans could have gotten the quiche later for just him and Papyrus to share.

“Oh..no, wait... forget it. I keep smelling food for just a moment…i jsut thought...…”, the devil let his head sink, looking more tired than before.

Sans kept walking, feeling like utter garbage for what he had thought. 

\------

Papyrus was cradling your head as the door opened, having placed you on the couch, trying to keep the blood from rushing out of your body in such an amount by pressing the bloody rag against your wound. He didn’t know enough about humans to do more.

Sans entered, closing the door quickly and fishing something out of his jacket.

“bro, i got something that could help”, Sans stretched his hand out, holding something rather small, metal and round towards Papyrus. A pie form.

Papyrus snatched it with a gleam in his eyes, his mouth watering slightly at the sight of the pie. But his need to help you outweighed his hunger, and he dug a small bit out of the form with his fingertips, sliding it into your mouth. 

Magical food dissolved into magic fast, the moment it was eaten, making it easier for those with rather...holey bodies to eat something.  
The bleeding stopped after three bites, the wound healed after four.

After Papyrus slid the last piece into your mouth, your HP rose to its max, your face gained an almost healthy colour. You didn’t wake up, but you lived.

Sans, who had sat down on the couch, too exhausted from his trip to stand any longer, threw a glance at Papyrus., who was staring at you without a word, still holding the pie form.

“they’re ok bro…”

Silence.

“they..will probably wake up soon.”

Silence.

“their hp isn’t dropping..so..”

“THEY CUT OF THEIR OWN ARM.”

Sharp, cutting, loud silence.

“THEY...THEY...THEY JUST...IT WAS THEIR OWN ARM...THEY DIDN’T EVEN EAT IT THEMSELVES...THEY..FOR US SANS. THEY DID IT FOR US!”

Papyrus hands started shaking more with every word, before he suddenly got up, carrying you with him.

“THEY...WILL PROBABLY BE MORE COMFORTABLE IN THE GUEST...IN THEIR BED…”

Typical Papyrus, searching for something to do whenever he was distraught. 

Sans watched him go upstairs and come back down again after a few moments, Papyrus sitting back down on the couch.

Sans placed a hand on his shoulder.

“bro...they...just wanted to help i think.”

“BUT IT WAS THEIR ARM! THEY CUT IT OFF THEMSELVES! THEY CUT OF A PART OF THEIR BODY AND COOKED IT! IT WASN’T ANOTHER HUMANS BODY, IT WAS THEIRS!”

“bro..”

None of them really enjoyed killing those humans, no monster did. It was..necessary. But it wasn’t in a monster's nature to want to kill or to cause pain. Yes, they fought, their attacks hurt, but so few had the intent to actually..hurt another a lot. Just a lack of control of their magic, too much enthusiasm put into a fight, sometimes fear making them lash out.  
But now they killed. Killed humans and other monsters they barely knew.

But killing somebody close to you, or even...hurting yourself that badly. It was still something that was rare, even now.

“What if they die…they should have woken up..”

Papyrus voice was quiet.

“bro, they were hurt pretty bad, they...just need some time.”

Papyrus wrung his hands, Sans putting his hands in his pockets, leaning back, sliding down on the couch a bit. They both knew it wasn’t true. The quiche was old and bad from the beginning. It didn’t heal as much as it should have. Good monster food should have woken you up right away. But there was no good one left.

You still could die. And even if you didn’t, your arm was gone for good.

“WE..WE CAN’T EAT THEM SANS!”

Sans knew he would say something like that.

“i know…”

“NOT AFTER WHAT THEY DID...NO! NOT AT ALL! THEY ARE MY BEST FRIEND, I CAN’T..I CAN’T JUST:..”

Sans knew Papyrus couldn’T eat them. San wasn’t sure he would be able to do that himself. But they had to eat, there was no food left...Maybe..he could cut you up himself if you died. Smuggle you inside, pretend he found a human somewhere in the forest. Feed you to Papyrus without him knowing….

Sans dug his fingers into his broken eye socket, hard, feeling disgust wash over him.

You were close to him, almost as close as Papyrus. He kept you around as entertainment at first, spare food. But you grew on him. He was still enough of a good monster to befriend others easily, to close others into his heart. And you slowly became a part of their small family, you were being protected by both Sans and Papyrus.

And then he thought something like that. Sans dug his fingers in deeper, scratching the inside of his skull. 

He already planned to cut you up and feed you to your brother. He planned to feed Papyrus best friend to him. He had regretted not letting you just..die. To eat you. He felt like those times he almost enjoyed killing those humans. Feeling satisfaction for a moment to have found a solution to their hunger, to have found something he could let his frustrations out on, just to be filled with guilt and disgust at himself. 

A hand slapped his away from his eye socket.

“SANS! I TOLD YOU TO STOP THAT!”

“sorry bro..”

Papyrus sighed.

“I AM..WORRIED TOO...BUT..BUT THEIR HP IS STABLE. NO USE IN WORRYING NOW!”

Before Sans could say anything, the door upstairs creaked. Both of their heads snapped towards the door.

You were awake, walking down the stairs carefully, stumbling as you tried to grab the railing with your hand, just to have no hand to grab it with.

Papyrus rushed towards you, enveloping you in a hug as he caught you, setting you down next to the stairs, just to throw himself at you again in another hug.

“HUMAN! NEVER DO THAT AGAIN! NEVER, YOU HEAR ME!”

Papyrus has always been one to shed a tear or two, and he was loudly crying into your hair, while Sans stood by, patting both of you on the back.

“Sorry...I...I just…”

“kid, it’s ok.”

Both you and Papyrus turned towards Sans, who had sat back down on the couch, still too exhausted to stand for long.

“it’s..been a long day. let’s just..watch some tv or somethin’...let’s..let’s talk later.”

To both of your surprise, Papyrus agreed, picking you up and carrying you to the couch.

“YES! MOVIE NIGHT! THAT WAY WE...UHM..YOU CAN REST.”

He had worried himself to exhaustion, Sans shook his head gently. Typical Papyrus.

You all sat down, watching some DVD that was already inside the DVD player, nobody saying a word, just taking a break from everything, before having to deal with the reality of what happened.

But sitting there, gave you time to think.  
You knew the few bites of meat you gave them wouldn’t last for long….But you still had more limbs, didn’t you?


End file.
